A49255:439
The penitent pardoned a treatise wherein is handled the duty of confession of sin…
The penitent pardoned a treatise wherein is handled the duty of confession of sin and the privilege of the pardon of sin : together with a discourse of Christs ascension into heaven and of his coming again from heaven : wherein the opinion of the Chiliasts is considered and solidly confuted / being the sum and substance of several sermons preached by that faithful servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love ...The penitent pardoned a treatise wherein is handled the duty of confession of sin and the priviledge of the pardon of sin : together with a discourse of Christs ascension into heaven and of his coming again from heaven : wherein the opinion of the Chiliasts is considered and solidly confuted / being the sum and substance of several sermons preached by that faithful servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love ...
London: printed for John Rothwell, 1657
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Object. 1 There is one strong Objection, which is this.
Answ. 1 Doth not God love a man from all eternity? and doth not the Scripture say, that we were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world were laid? Now God electing of us, or loving of us, is Gods pardoning of us; if God doth love a man before he was born, then sure God doth pardon a man from eternity. To argue from Gods love to actual pardon, is as great an absurdity as to argue, that because God did purpose from all eternity to create the world, therefore the world was created from eternity. God decrees to pardon from all eternity, God executes this decree when thou art converted, God doth manifest this, that he hath pardoned thee, when he doth give thee the assurance of his love. Antinomians make only the decree and the manifestation, and leave out the execution of it.
Answ. 1 Doth not God love a man from all eternity? and doth not the Scripture say, that we were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world were laid? Now God electing of us, or loving of us, is Gods pardoning of us; if God doth love a man before he was born, then sure God doth pardon a man from eternity. To argue from Gods love to actuall pardon, is as great an absurdity as to argue, that because God did purpose from all eternity to create the world, therefore the world was created from eternity. God decrees to pardon from all eternity, God executes this decree when thou art converted, God doth manifest this, that he hath pardoned thee, when he doth give thee the assurance of his love. Antinomians make onely the decree and the manifestation, and leave out the execution of it.
Secondly, observe this, That when we say that God doth love a man from all eternity, you must not understand it, that it is a love in purpose: and Divines do give this solid and useful distinction in it, that there is a twofold love in God, there is a love of purpose and a love of complacency or delight: the love of purpose is in God